The local authority's economist, Khumiso Higgins told a special full council meeting last Friday that SPTC is a signatory of SADC gender protocols. Hence they are committed in driving gender issues and infusing them in the council's action plans. Higgins said this is evidenced by the fact that unlike before, the council has four of its female councillors chairing council committees while three are vice chairpersons. Of the council's employees, 346 are female while 460 are male. In the senior management positions, there are four females and six males.
Higgins said the challenges they face in gender mainstreaming include imbalance in leadership positions and lack of budget for gender issues as a result of economic challenges. Despite this, the council effectively participated in the 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women and Children and Community Service Day. Other challenges include gender stereotypes and lack of a budget for gender specific programmes. Higgings said the council is currently lobbying for political parties to ensure 30 percent representation of women in leadership positions. He noted that the way forward for the council is to implement Gender Based Violence (GBV) action plan and to develop policies with mainstreaming of a gender centered approach and to have 50 percent representation of women in decision-making positions. Councillors at the meeting expressed appreciation at the achievement by their council. Former mayor, councillor Lekang Mukokomani said it is a good move by council to lobby political parties to have 30 percent women representation. He said the same should apply in Parliament, sports and mining. He expressed the need to approach BCL mine to address gender imbalance in the mining jobs.
